THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
has been distinguished as L. welchi. Broadly speaking, the ptarmigan 
may be regarded as a circum -polar species, represented by slightly 
varying forms throughout its wide range. It is quite certain, however, 
that some of the forms described from Arctic America are based on a 
very insufficient series of specimens, and that the great variability of the 
ptarmigan, as found in Scotland or in Scandinavia, has not been duly 
considered. The bird described by Stejneger as L. ridgwayi from the 
Commander Islands, in which the male in summer -plumage is nearly 
black on the back and breast, can be matched exactly by some specimens 
killed in Norway at the same season. In Spitzbergen a larger and appar- 
ently distinct form (L. hyperboreus) occurs with more white on the basal 
part of the tail-feathers, but very few examples have at present been 
examined. 
Distribution in the British Isles. — The range of the ptarmigan in the British 
Isles is now confined to the higher mountains of Scotland, from Perth- 
shire and Argyllshire northwards, wherever suitable stony and barren 
plateaux of sufficient elevation, studded with rocks and boulders, are 
to be found. It was formerly met with on the highest hills of Dum- 
fries -shire and Galloway, but disappeared about 1822, and a subsequent 
attempt to re-stock that district proved unsuccessful. It still lingers in 
Arran and Rum, where it has been re-introduced, also in Mull, Islay 
and Jura, while in Skye it is found in small numbers. It does not extend 
to the Orkney and Shetland Islands, but is said to have occurred in small 
numbers on the hills of Hoy (Orkneys), up till 1831. From Lewis, Harris 
and North and South Uist it seems to have almost disappeared during 
recent years. 
There appears to be some grounds for supposing that the ptarmigan 
existed in former times on the fells of Cumberland and Westmoreland. 
Macpherson in his “ Fauna of Lakeland ” gives his reasons for believing 
that the species was to be found in the mountains about Keswick till the 
end of the eighteenth century. A ptarmigan “ said to have been killed 
on Skiddaw” was still preserved in Hutton’s local museum at Keswick 
in 1841, but when the collection was broken up in 1855 the specimen was 
lost sight of. 
On the mountains of Ireland it is unknown, and attempts to introduce it 
have not met with success. 
Food. — The food consists of the green tops of the blaeberry {Vaccinium 
tnyrtillus)t and crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) y leaves of dwarf sallow and 
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